


A Kingdom of Our Own Making

by Charmkeeper



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fae AU, Fluff, IgNoct, M/M, Pining, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22071700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charmkeeper/pseuds/Charmkeeper
Summary: Ten years ago, Prince Noctis of the seelie ran away from court and hasn't been seen since. Today, Ignis thinks he's finally found him...working in a coffee shop.***Written for the IgNoct Big Bang.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 58
Kudos: 141
Collections: The Ignoct Big Bang 2019





	1. In Which the Prince is Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Accompanying art done by, [Dannydangerzone](https://twitter.com/dannydangerzone)  
> (Link goes to their twitter, take a look. <3)  
> [A Link Directly to the Adorable Art!](https://twitter.com/dannydangerzone/status/1216485013195313152)
> 
> The whole thing was beta'd by [BossGoose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BossGoose/pseuds/BossGoose), who also encouraged me to do this in the first place.

The bell chimed softly as Ignis pushed the door to the coffee shop open. Harmony, it was called, and Ignis couldn't say that he didn't find that to be an odd name for a coffee shop. Most coffee shops tried to be clever with their names, often using puns so awful that they brought a twisted smile to his face. Not this one. Harmony Coffee and Tea Company. Rather than smile it made his eyebrows furrow as he walked inside.

The inside was also completely different than any independent coffee chain he'd ever been in. Most little hole in the wall shops offered comforting dark corners and low lighted tables where you could often find college kids who were too tired for words still trying to study. The chain stores tended to have too many windows and were utilitarian and hard looking. Harmony was a mixture of the two - bright yet soft looking. It was a look that easily set someone like Ignis on edge, but for someone like him . . . well, it probably felt like home.

For a second, an errant thought washed over him. Would it have felt like home to him, too, if he had been allowed to stay?

The thought was quickly pushed away. It mattered not. It had been the proper thing to do. He saw that now. What was more important was what he could smell. Of course, he could smell coffee, tea, spices, and baked goods. Those were the typical coffee shop smells. It would have been highly suspicious if he couldn't smell those things. Underneath these usual scents, he could also faintly smell a cat, and even underneath that, the smell of warmth, sunshine, and open meadows.

He was here.

For a second, if he weren't who and what he was, he might have cried. Ignis had been looking for so long, and now here he was. His search could end at last.

He let the door close at last, the bell tingling softly again, and from the back emerged a boy who looked perhaps a couple years younger than he did. Early twenties at his oldest. Was it him? It didn't look like him as Ignis remembered him, but he wouldn't. Blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles that screamed all summer and brightness. It was so ironically opposite of what he remembered and yet so in line with what he was that Ignis would not be surprised at all.

A smile that was a generous mixture of genuine and "customer service" spread over those lips and suddenly Ignis had doubts. He could hide his appearance, but hiding one's movements and mannerisms was harder. That wasn't his smile, not the one he remembered, but . . . it had been so very long. Maybe he'd changed.

"Hey! Welcome to Harmony Coffee and Tea! What can I get you?"

_Gin and tonic,_ he honestly wanted to say. The dichotomy of feeling so close and yet feeling like he was farther away from his goal than ever made him want to turn heel, but he forced himself to smile back.

"What's the best drink you have?"

"Oh. Man." Eyes flitted up to the ceiling, not in an impolite eyeroll, but more in an 'I'm trying to think here' motion. "There's so much. Uh. The iced mocha latte is super nice this time of year, not gonna lie."

"Splendid. I'll take one of those then."

"Nice. What size?"

"The largest size you have."

Ignis swiped his card through their Square system, making sure to leave a good tip because he wasn't a complete asshole. The blond, who's name-tag read "Prompto" on it, told him it would be just a couple minutes, and Ignis sat at the nearest table. It was at that time that he noticed the place was completely empty of other customers, and for a moment or two he bothered to wonder why before he heard another voice talking.

"Hey, Prom. I'm heading out for my fifteen."

"Cool. See you soon." Prompto's words barely even registered, because Ignis' eyes were on the person standing in the doorway. Black hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. He'd been wrong, Prompto was definitely not him. No. Noctis was standing in the doorway, and another dichotomy rose up inside him. One side of it was utter relief. He'd found him. He was literally standing right there, so close that if Ignis came around the counter, he could touch him. He wanted to. He wanted to get up out of his chair and put his hands on that face, just to make sure he was real. It seemed a dream after so long. The other side of it was pure and simple exasperation. Had he really, truly only bothered to change his ears? Was he that lazy or just that stupid that he thought he hadn't needed to change how he'd looked at all? It was true, Ignis had only put the barest effort into changing his own appearance as well, but he wasn't the one who had been hiding from his father for ten years.

. . . then again, it had taken ten years for anyone to actually track him down.

Noctis slipped back into the employee area again, out of his sight, and Ignis wanted to run after him. He wanted to fall at his feet and beg him to come home. He would not. An unseelie did not beg. Not even to their prince.

Emotions and thought whirled through what felt like his entire being as he continued to wait for his drink. Too soon, Prompto the human was handing over an iced mocha latte, and Ignis was leaving Harmony. The problem now was thus: he'd located his prince, but there was no way for him to just drag Noctis back to his father and claim his reward. Even if he wanted to, Noctis was a faery prince. He could truly destroy him in an instant if so driven. He had to convince him to return. That meant staying as close by as possible. How?

The cosmos answered his quandary almost instantly, for in the window of the shop was a bright red sign that read in equally bright lettering "APARTMENT FOR RENT."

He went back into the shop, and once again the sound of bells drew Prompto from the back. "Something wrong?"

"No?" Oh, the drink. He was worried that he didn't like it. "No, the drink is fine - good, even." The small smile of relief didn't escape his notice. "But about that apartment . . ."

"Oh! You interested?" Ignis nodded, feeling vaguely amused by the young man's enthusiasm. "Great! Uh. Landlord doesn't come check in until ten? Can you wait?"

"I've got all the time in the world."

The landlord, who made it clear immediately that he did not own the coffee shop business, so no, don't ask about a job there, was a sweaty, overweight man by the name of Vyv. The apartment was one of two over the shop, the other apparently rented long term by Prompto. "It needs some work," he was told, which was the understatement of the century. There were patches in the walls that had not yet been painted over, and several doors that needed to be replaced, and those were the mild things. "The last tenants weren't exactly gentle with the place, and I hadn't really gotten around to finishing it all yet. If you want to put in the elbow grease yourself I'll take a couple months' rent off."

"I'll need that in writing." Because of course he was taking this apartment. It could have been the smallest, trashiest place on the planet and he'd still take it. It was in proximity to Noctis.

"No need for that, my word's good."

Ignis smiled, and it must have been a very unfriendly-like smile, for Vyv took a step backward upon seeing it. "When you live life among my kind, you know all about contracts and how they work. So. I need it in writing. Have I made myself clear?"

Vyv nodded quickly and nervously. "Crystal."

"Excellent. I'll take it."

At the end of it all, just before Vyv left him alone in the apartment to go draft up the lease, he turned around and asked. "So? What? Are you like a lawyer or something?"

Ignis almost snorted with laughter. Almost. "Something like that."

Vyv had the paperwork ready later that day, which was truly faster than Ignis had expected. In return, Ignis moved in that day, which he was sure was faster than Vyv had expected. If his apartment was already full of furniture by the time Prompto dragged himself up the stairs with no noticeable noise and no movers going in and out, well . . . Ignis wasn't going to give away his trade secrets, no matter how he would have enjoyed that look of befuddlement on Prompto's face.

"Well," Prompto said after making his disappointment about the lack of information on how he'd moved in so quickly clear, "It's going to be nice."

"What's going to be nice?"

"Having a neighbor again."

"I thought the former tenants were horrors."

"Oh." Prompto rolled his eyes, really rolled them this time, and it was like he was a stage actor. His whole body moved, his head lolled back, eyes boring small holes into the ceiling. "They were the worst. But, what's even worse--"

"--worse than the worst?" he interjected.

"You bet - what's worse is having that side empty. Seriously. If you need anything, you just let me know."

And that was an open invitation. Humans really needed to be more careful with their words. "I'll keep that in mind."

A smile, great, wide, and genuine, spread across Prompto's face, and Ignis couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. "Cool! I'll let you get back to your unpacking. I'll see you later!"

Ignis did see Prompto later, the next two mornings, in fact. The moment he walked through Harmony's front door, Prompto was bouncing out of the backroom, eyes bright and grin wide. Each time it was a bit of a disappointment, but he knew that Noctis couldn't work there every single day. He had to be patient and bide his time. On the third day, his patience paid off.

Noctis had none of Prompto's pomp and enthusiasm, but the very sight of him emerging from the backroom was enough to make his heartbeat quicken in his chest. He really did look exactly like Ignis had thought he would when he grew older. Fair-faced, and with dark coloring that bellied what he really was. He wasn't tall, but neither was he short. Was it too sentimental of him to think that he looked like perfection?

"You're that guy," Noctis said by way of greeting. "The one that moved in across from Prompto." There was no other source of recognition on his face, and there was a tug of hurt and disappointment in his chest. Did he really not remember him at all? Had it really been that long ago? Ignis did not think so. Ignis remembered all of it like it were yesterday. Perhaps he remembered incorrectly. Perhaps it had been even more his fault than he'd thought.

"That would be me, yes."

"Hmm." The sound was suspicious, and when Ignis looked, Noctis was staring at him like a cat stared at a dog. Could he tell? Could he tell what he was, if not remember who? "What's your name?" Oh yes, that was definitely suspicion. Perhaps he wasn't sure, but he definitely wasn't completely fooled. The question was, without a doubt, a trap. Fae generally guarded their names dearly, for they had power to them. Even in his time at court he'd gone by a pseudonym. If he didn't answer, or took too long to answer, Noctis would know it wasn't real, that his suspicions were correct. That he couldn't be trusted.

Luckily, Ignis had no problems handing over power to Noctis. He'd give Noctis his everything, if only he'd ask. "I'm Ignis."

Those eyes relented a little, the crinkle in his nose straightened. He'd passed the test, for now. "Cool. I'm Noctis." Ignis didn't say that he knew. "Be nice to Prom, okay? He's nice. It's not fake." Ignis didn't say that he knew that too. Prompto was certainly nice, and certainly too nice for his own good. "So I guess this is the part where I ask what I can get for you."

"What do you recommend?" It was true that he'd quite liked Prompto's recommendation, but he was curious as to what Noctis' suggestion would be.

The sort of shy shrug of the shoulders he got as an initial reaction was adorable and decidedly not very princely. "I dunno. Are you the kind of guy who drinks coffee for pleasure or because you can't wake up in the morning?"

"Let's say I'm a hint of both." It wasn't even a lie. He, as most unseelie were, was much more of a night creature, and mornings tended to be hard, though he'd trained himself to do it. That combined with his genuine fondness for the boldness of coffee, well . . . no. Both wasn't a lie at all.

"Oka-ay." Noctis ran his fingers up and through his hair. "I know what I'm gonna make you then."

"How much for a large?"

"Six?" The unsure shrug of one shoulder accompanied by a slight twitch of his eye made Ignis smile again. So very unprincely. "It's not an official item on the menu. Six should be fine."

"Six it is, then." Plus tip, of course. Ignis was an excellent tipper. He liked tipping. It was like saying thank you without the confining words.

After paying, Noctis settled in to make the drink he had in mind. Ignis watched. As he watched he noticed something he hadn't had a chance to notice before. Noctis had a slight limp. He'd been warned that he might. It had been one of the things Regis had said might separate him out from other people, even in a glamour. A slight limp he couldn't quite hide.

Ignis tried not to think about why he had that limp.

"So what are you making?"

"You'll see," Noctis teased as he popped open a can of something that looked like an energy drink. Whatever it was looked like it included foam, and then, at the very end, the can was poured into the center. Not the whole can, but enough that when the large mug was pushed over to him, he could see how the poured substance had stained the white of the foam.

"So what is it?"

"I call it an Ebony Shot."

"Like an espresso shot?"

"Yeah, except made more like a red eye. And let's be serious here, Ebony is way more powerful than espresso." Ignis wouldn't really know. He'd never even heard of Ebony. It might have been a local or regional thing. "Go on. Try it."

What Ignis put to his lips was coffee, and yet was also somehow infinitely better than coffee. He couldn't describe how much smoother, bolder, and tastier what he was drinking was than just the normal coffee he'd been used to drinking. For a moment he dared to think that it might be some sort of a fae trick, but then he admitted to himself that Noctis wouldn't risk that, not when he was already suspicious.

"You like it." It wasn't a question. Ignis didn't even think it was an observation. Noctis said it like it was a fact, and, really, it sort of was.

It wasn't a question, but Ignis still felt inclined to answer. "I do." He sat the mug down on the counter, torn between savoring it and drinking it all in one go.

"Cool, I'll remember that as your usual then."

"And what makes you think I'm going to become a regular?"

"Because you definitely didn't choose to live in that shitty apartment just because it was cheap." This was also stated as a fact, and since it too actually was a fact, Ignis couldn't argue with it. Instead he brought the mug back up to his lips, and Noctis smiled at him, full of teeth and the slightest hint of victory.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ignis."

Why yes, that too was stated as a fact.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original Chapter Title Given to it by My Beta: In Which Eyefuck Chicken Begins.


	2. In Which Rain Brings Truth

Noctis often woke up screaming.

Often was not to say most of the time or even half the time. Often only meant that it happened enough that every time it did happen, Noctis was left with a dreaded "not this shit again" sort of feeling when it was all said and done. After ten years of waking up screaming, Noctis had identified the pattern. It was simple, really. It happened when he rolled onto his back in his sleep. It made a lot of fucking sense, considering that his back was where the giant scar lived and where all his trauma emanated from. You'd think the solution would be simple - just don't sleep on your back, you fucking idiot.

It wasn't that simple.

No matter how Noctis trained himself to fall asleep on his stomach, the fact was that you didn't just sleep like a dead body at night. You moved, and that sometimes meant flipping onto your back and staying there. For most people it wasn't a big deal. It hadn't been for Noctis either, most of his life, but now . . . now when he got to sleeping on his back he dreamt of Ardyn's betrayal. He dreamed of the blade slicing through his back after killing his advisor. He remembered being stuck under her body, unable to move. He remembered passing out from the pain . . .

And then he'd wake up, sweating, screaming, and not even in pain so much as feeling an unbearable tingling in his back that still made him want to cry.

He didn't cry about it anymore. What was the point? It no longer made him feel any better, and there was no one to comfort him.

It was at those moments that he missed his mother and father the most. There was almost always an idle ache inside him. He was a seelie after all, emotional and light. He grew attached to people that orbited around him quickly and strongly, and his love for them never left. He wasn't meant to be alone. In the darkness of his room he often thought about the people he'd left behind. His mother, his father, Clarus, Cor, Monica, Iris . . . Gladio. Oh, he did miss Gladio. They'd bickered sometimes, but they'd been close. They were friends. Gladio had been set to be a member of his court. He even missed Ardyn, or at least the person he'd thought Ardyn was. He missed the uncle that would pick him up and tease him, not the man who had betrayed his family and tried to have them killed.

Oddly, the one person he didn't miss was Dandelion, the advisor. They hadn't really been close. He hated that. She'd been an unseelie, as seelie advisors usually were, and she had dealt with everything in a calculating and unforgiving manner. He hadn't even known her real name. She'd still died for him. Thrown herself between the attack and him. She'd been loyal to him, in the end, and he didn't even miss her. He apparently hadn't even called for her in his times of lucid dreaming. He'd called for someone else. A name he didn't remember knowing.

He didn't miss Dandelion, but he missed everyone else horribly, but that wasn't enough to get him to go back. Noctis could love and miss them all he liked. The fact still remained that he couldn't go back there. He couldn't face court. He couldn't face politics. He couldn't face life there anymore. Someday, he told himself. Someday his heart would be healed enough that he could go back and be a proper prince to his people. Someday. Someday wasn't ten years ago, and it certainly wasn't today either. Maybe in ten more years he'd think about it again.

He wasn't stupid, not completely. He knew that the moment he'd fled the kingdom, his father had started arranging for people to go after him. He knew those people wouldn't harm him. Their mission would be retrieval. He knew they would be fae. He knew they would be lesser fae than him. He also knew they would have been promised something that would make their success vital.

Noctis knew that he could handle those fae, but really, he didn't want to bother with being found at all, so Noctis moved a lot. He tried not to stay anywhere for more than about eighteen months. He'd change jobs and move away without a trace. It had worked for him for six years before he'd moved to Caem.

There was a lot to love about Caem. Hell's bells, what wasn't to love about Caem? It wasn't a city, but Noctis wouldn't call it a small town either. It had everything you needed without all the surplus people. The air was clear, and the trees were huge. It was by the ocean, and that meant that on his days off he could rent a shoddy little boat for like twenty gil and go out to sea to fish. Fishing was the best. Even on days when he caught nothing, Noctis couldn't call it a waste of his time, and on days when he caught a lot, well, that saved him quite a bit of money on groceries. He never got tired of eating fish.

As much as Noctis loved fishing, though, there was one thing that was even better about Caem: Prompto was in Caem. Prompto was the personification of the first breath of fresh air after the last of winter melted away into spring. He was human, but Noctis only saw him as seelie, through and through. Sometimes when he thought about the future, he thought about telling Prompto about the fae. He thought about bringing Prompto back with him. They said that humans who stayed in Faery long enough became something like fae themselves, lived their long full lives, and gained some magic of their own.

He thought Prompto would be beautiful with the ears of a seelie fae. They'd make his freckles pop like sunshine.

Prompto was the best thing about Caem. A friend - a true, real friend among humans, and . . . well. Two years into his stay at Caem, Noctis had known he should move on. He couldn't linger too long or his father's men would find him. Every time he thought that, he went to work, he saw Prompto, and he told himself "another month."

Noctis had been telling himself "just one more month" for two years. Why not? Four years he'd been happy here now despite the night screaming, job stress, and tightness of his budget. He was happy. Happier than he thought he'd ever been. He'd traded happiness for safety. He knew his time would eventually run out. He'd known, and so he wasn't really surprised when Harmony's door had opened one day and in had walked a fae.

He wasn't one hundred percent sure it was a fae. He looked pretty human at a glance. His skin even had some little spots here and there. Fae usually skipped the sporadic spots. If they had spots at all, they were freckles like Prompto's, but things like blemishes? Normally fae didn't think to glamour those in. Still, there was something just a little too . . . perfect. Like he was too bright for the backdrop. Fae, his brain told him. That's a fae. A fae, a fae, a fae.

Run.

He didn't run. He stood his ground, perplexed a little. The fae didn't feel particularly dangerous, yet there was something very familiar about him. "You're that guy," he accused. "The one that moved in across from Prompto." He said that, but that wasn't what made him familiar. It was all the more worrying.

The fae smiled at him. He didn't really like it. "That would be me, yes."

"Hmm." Noctis asked for his name, a test, to see if he had an answer. He did, not a full name, and it wasn't spoken too quickly or slowly. It was said naturally. Ignis. A name. It should have put him at ease. It did not. It did not put him at ease at all, for Ignis was the name that he had called out for when he'd been hurt. Ignis. He'd apparently called for Ignis until his throat was raw. Yet he'd never been able to say who Ignis was. He couldn't remember. A dream, perhaps.

Fake. A fae. His father's man sent to collect him. Ignis probably wasn't his real name but was probably what his father had told him to call himself to throw Noctis off guard.

It wouldn't work. He wouldn't let it work.

He made him coffee, the first of what would be many Ebony Shots, he was sure, and life went on. The pattern of life just became a little different. As he'd predicted, Ignis came in every single morning for a coffee. He always came in after the initial morning rush but before the people on their breaks and lunches crowded the place. He engaged in small talk that, if Noctis didn't know any better, he'd call flirting, and then he'd leave. When he left, he always left soft ache behind with him tinged with that feeling of familiarity that made Noctis want to punch something because it was so damn infuriating. Whose face was he wearing? Whose face had his father probably told him to wear to set him off guard? The niggling question would plague him all day sometimes.

"Do you know?" He asked Harmony one evening as he scooped her up off her favorite basket and settled back into one of the chairs. "Do you know who he's supposed to be?" Harmony, of course, had no answer to his baby-talk quandary and instead simply melted into a little pile of purring fur in his arms. Really, though, that was enough. She was a cat, of course - a normal, everyday cat - and having her purr in his arms was really enough for Noctis.

The shop bell softly rang, and when he looked up, Noctis saw the object of his damn near obsession standing there. It wasn't morning, so why was he here plaguing him, even now?

Ignis smiled (it was a nice smile, Noctis grudgingly admitted to himself) and spoke as though he'd heard his mental moaning. "Prompto told me that there might be some leftover baked goods for half price just before close, and I thought I'd try my luck."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure. We've got some." Harmony still in his arms, Noctis made to get up. The movement made his back twinge painfully, a feeling so normal now that it only made him pause for an instant before he pushed through it. Maybe Ignis saw that moment of pain, because when he got to his full height, he was there, almost towering over him, a look that Noctis thought might be concern painting his face.

"I'll take . . . her?" he paused in question, and Noctis nodded.

"Yeah. Her."

"I'll take her while you do that."

"Okay." He hefted her into Ignis' arms, and she went without complaint. Of course, she was still being held by hands, and sunlight, blankets, and hands were Harmony's three loves in life. Noctis could still hear her purring as he made his way behind the counter. "So, uh, what do you think? Brownies? Scones? Cookies? Muffins . . . ?"

"I'll take one of everything you have left."

"Cool." This was good. This still left him with a few things to take home himself. He always looked forward to taking something back with him. Aranea let them have it for free if it was still there by close, and, well, free food was free food. "You gonna want any more coffee?"

"No, just the baked goods." Noctis nodding, taking the tongs to place the goods into one of their overly crinkly bags before he looked up. He melted a little inside. There was something almost obscenely cute about Ignis, who looked formal and put together at all times, holding a white, fluffy cat in his arms. Oh man, Harmony was a shedder too; that nice button up was going to be covered in fur. As he watched, though, Harmony put a paw up against Ignis' face, and somehow Noctis didn't think he was going to mind that so much. "Is she yours?"

"Not legally?" Legally, ha, like she was a child. "But she lives in the shop, and that means Prompto and I take care of her more than Aranea does."

"She lives in the shop?"

"Yep."

"Why have I never seen her before now?"

Noctis shrugged as he rolled the top of the bag down. Crinkle, crinkle, crinkle. "Morning time is sleepy window time. I mean. Most times are Harmony's sleepy window time, but the sun hits the window just right at about nine this time of year, so . . . "

"She has to recharge her solar panels."

Noctis smiled. A joke! That was a joke! "Yeah."

With Harmony still tucked into the crook of one elbow, Ignis paid for his baked goods and then traded Harmony for the bag of sweets. Sure enough, that shirt was absolutely covered in fur, and yet Ignis didn't seem to mind. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ignis."

"That you will." Ignis paused, a soft smile creeping onto his face. "Good night, Harmony." Harmony dutifully meowed at him, and Ignis left the shop, bell jingling behind him.

It would be a couple days before Noctis realized that the suspicion in his chest had faded a bit after that. He still seemed that weird sort of familiar, but he was starting to feel like he'd just been paranoid. Ignis hadn't really done a damn thing to earn that suspicion other than be named Ignis, and Prompto kept telling him that he was a nice neighbor. All he was doing was getting coffee in the morning and brownies at night. Now that he was aware of her presence in the shop, he stopped by the window and reached up to give Harmony pets every single morning.

Was he really that worried about it? If he was that worried about it . . . maybe he should move on rather than just suspect any nice-looking new person who came into the shop. The idea still didn't appeal to him. Not when, barely two weeks into Ignis' stay in the apartment above, his smile was starting to be one of the things he was looking forward to.

"I cannot believe that it has been pouring all day."

"Yeah, man," Prompto said with a half-cocked smile that betrayed the weariness he felt. "You're totally new to Caem, right? Weather really doesn't fuck around here. Either it's sunny and beautiful or its raining and miserable."

"I wouldn't say it's miserable," Ignis said from where he leaned against the counter, Harmony in his arms, using him for every bit of warmth he had to give. "Just that, well, aren't you worried it's going to flood?"

"Nah." Prompto said with a shrug. "It's super hilly here. It'll all go out to sea by morning." Ignis only made a non-committal sound in response, and Prompto moved on, directing his attention to Noctis. "You okay to close by yourself?"

"I'm good. Just gotta finish up the dishes and turn the sign around."

"Cool. I'm heading out then." Out came the chocobo umbrella that Noctis was pretty sure was going to be useless in the face of the small rivers running down the street, and then he was gone, out the door to whatever date it was that he was going on this week. Noctis was pretty sure it didn't matter. None of them were Cindy.

Ignis lingered as Noctis finished his cleaning as he sometimes did these days. It didn't bother him anymore that he stayed, and neither of them really spoke to each other. It would have been worrying in Prompto, but Ignis' silence was strong and companionable. That aside, he really seemed to like Harmony, and Noctis couldn't blame him for that. The person who didn't like Harmony was definitely not to be trusted. The reverse was true too - If Harmony didn't like you, well, it was practically store policy that you could deny them service. It was her store after all.

"What about you?" he heard Ignis ask just as he finished draining out the dish sinks. "Do you dislike the rain, Noctis?"

"It's a pain," he admitted as he dried off his hands. "Like on my days off? Rain sucks. It's gonna suck to go out in it, too. I'm gonna run the whole way home and still get wet."

"Then why don't you just stop the rain?"

Panic flooded Noctis' system. "What?" Maybe he'd heard wrong? Maybe it was a joke?

"Why don't you just stop the rain?" Ignis repeated. "It wouldn't be so hard for you to just make it sunny and clear whenever you wanted."

His heart dropped down through his stomach. No. No, he hadn't misheard, and suddenly everything about Ignis seemed much more sinister. Even his holding onto Harmony seemed less like affection for her and more like he was using her as a shield so he couldn't lash out at him. It hurt, and it hurt so much worse because he'd been here for almost a month now. He'd lulled him into a sense of security weeks ago, never once bringing up that he really was a fae and that he really did know who he was. Even now that he had brought it up, he didn't come at it directly. He said it in a roundabout way, like a fae.

Because he was.

Ignis was a fae.

It hurt to know that for sure, now. It hurt to know it. It hurt to have been hopeful before, and it felt like his whole world was tumbling down around his knees. Finally, his father's men had found him.

"You know what, Ignis?"

"Hm?"

"Fuck you."

He ran out the door straight into the rain. It soaked him almost instantly, cold and nearly biting. He ran through it, straight through puddles that made his shoes squelch with every step. By the time he reached his apartment, he was dripping, miserable, and in pain, but the worst of it was the sea of emotions that turned inside of him. He wanted to scream, but once inside, only collapsed onto his living room floor. He wasn't sure which was the stronger emotion: that he didn't want to go back home, or that he wished Ignis was a normal man. Whatever the answer, he was going to have to deal with this. Deal with Ignis. And then a new emotion that dwarfed the other two rose within him.

If he wanted to continue living here, he was probably going to have to kill Ignis. He wasn't sure he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original Chapter Title Via Beta: In Which Angry Eyebrows are Made


	3. In Which Repairs are Made

Ignis did not run after Noctis. That would have been an incredibly stupid thing to do. Instead Ignis waited for a couple of minutes, just to ensure that Noctis wouldn't come back, before he locked up the shop himself, leaving Harmony curled up in her spot by the window even though there was no sun for her to soak up.

The awning wasn't quite wide enough to prevent Ignis' side from getting a bit wet as he walked the short distance between the cafe door and the door that went up to the apartments. It certainly was just pouring buckets wasn't it? He hoped Noctis got home all right. Or he assumed Noctis had run home. It was entirely possible that he'd run off elsewhere. A favorite hangout spot, or a lover he didn't know about.

(He didn't want to think about Noctis having a lover. He pushed that thought away. It wasn't his place to even think of Noctis in such a manner.)

Up in his apartment, he shed his jacket and his shoes and sat himself down at the tiny dining room table feeling quite miserable. It had perhaps been an unavoidable outcome, but he hadn't really wanted to upset Noctis. Ignis had seen Noctis' smile these last few weeks, and it was something he wanted his prince to wear always. He loved (yes, loved) the way that his lips stretched over his teeth when he smiled and the way his eyes crinkled at the edges when he did it. He loved seeing his happiness. He loved hearing his laughter. He hated being the cause of such upsetness and turmoil.

It'd had to be done, of course. There was no denying that. They'd been dancing around each other since Ignis had arrived, and though Ignis knew Noctis was suspicious of him, he'd had no real confirmation. He'd tried to be gentle about it. He'd tried to pick a moment where he could gently say that he knew who and what Noctis was rather than cornering him and being blunt. Had he perhaps read the moment wrong? Should he have picked another instant in time? He'd been here for weeks. How much longer could he have put it off? Not long, he thought. It had already been bordering on avoidance.

It was better this way, he told himself. Now Noctis knew for sure that he knew he was the Prince, and that meant he'd also made the logical jump from there to "Ignis is also a fae." All he could hope now was that Noctis didn't also make the jump to "Ignis is dangerous and I should kill him" before they talked again.

He slept fitfully that night but woke up in the morning still alive, which was about as good of a sign as Ignis knew he was going to get. It was more than a little worrying, though, when he went down to the cafe to find that Noctis wasn't there for his shift. When he asked, Prompto only pouted a little bit at him and said that Noctis had called in sick. "Says he must have caught a cold in the rain yesterday. Probably won't be in tomorrow either."

It was a lie, pure and simple. After all, fae didn't get sick like humans did. Ignis hoped that the lie was just to get him out of work for a couple days while he dealt with the blow Ignis had given him and wasn't Noctis buying time while he got out of town and out of Ignis' radar.

The day's other bit of disappointment was that Prompto definitely didn't make Ebony Shots, so Ignis was forced to accept a replacement. (It wasn't that Prompto didn't make good coffee, just that Ignis preferred Noctis' creation.) and he spent the rest of his day up in his apartment, staring at the holes in his walls. He really ought to get about fixing those as per the contract, but today he couldn't muster up the willpower to start.

The next day was practically a replay of the first. No Noctis, a different sort of coffee he didn't like as much, and staring at the walls he ought to fix. The third day, as though things with Noctis came in threes (which they quite possibly did) he was there, standing behind the counter. It was simultaneously a great relief and a great worry to see him there. There was definitely a sense of uncertainty. What happened next would probably determine their future interactions. If Ignis was to have any chance of bringing him back, it had to go well.

He smiled. "Good morning, Noctis."

To his continued relief, Noctis smiled back, if a tad insincerely. "Good morning, Ignis." There was a beat of awkward silence between them before Noctis spoke again. "Do you want your usual?"

"Yes, that would be lovely. I admit I've quite missed it."

The smile widened a little, and Ignis was happy to see that it carried to the eyes just a little bit more. "You really like that drink, don't you?"

"It is truly what gets me going in the morning."

Ignis paid for his drink, and then, as had become his habit, wandered over toward the window where he knew Harmony was sleeping in her basket.

"Don't touch her," came Noctis' voice, sharp and commanding. Ignis' hand stopped mid-movement, and when he looked over at him he found an expression of mild surprise painting his face. He wasn't angry, he realized. He'd only commanded him to see if he'd obey. "You. You can pet her." There was no demand in his tone this time, but Ignis obeyed anyway. It had, after all, been what he'd been going to do anyway. The cat leaned into the touch as she was wont to do, and her happy purr reached his ears. He didn't linger with her long, but when he left to go back by the counter, she followed, setting herself down by his feet, her fluffy tail lightly swaying back and forth as she waited for more pets.

"So," Noctis began at last. "You're my father's man."

To that, Ignis tilted his head. "I may be here at your father's direction, Highness." If they weren't pretending they didn't know anymore, he might as well use the title. "But I am first and foremost yours."

He watched Noctis' nose crinkle up in adorable confusion. "Why?"

The question had so many answers that it was almost an insult. Why? Because that's what he'd been raised to be. Because they'd spent years together. Because Noctis was beautiful inside and out. Because that was how it had always been. Because he was the future, and Ignis truly believed that. Because he needed someone in his corner. Because he didn't know any other way to exist. Because they'd been friends once. Because . . . he loved him. He'd thought he'd stopped, but no. He was realizing it would never go away. He said none of those things. None of them were appropriate. Noctis didn't even remember. "Because you are my prince. I live to serve you."

"Yet I'm the one making you coffee."

A small joke. Ignis smiled. "I would make you anything your heart could dream of, if you came back." He'd make an uncountable number of cups of coffee. He'd make any meal Noctis wanted all the time. He'd make cakes, pies, brownies. He wasn't an artist, but if Noctis demanded paintings and sculptures . . . well, he'd make those too.

"You're not going to try and drag me back, are you?"

"I daresay not." Their eyes met, just for a moment, before Noctis turned back to his task. It was only a moment, but Ignis missed the sight of them as soon as they were gone. "Even if I wanted to go that route, I am not enough of an idiot to think I could do it."

"And you're not going to bring other people in to help you, right?"

Ignis snorted. And share his prize? "Absolutely not. This is my task."

"Okay," Noctis said softly. "That's okay then."

It was another minute or so before Noctis handed over what Ignis knew was a Ebony Shot under a disposable cup lid. He took it, but before he could walk away, Noctis grabbed his wrist. Ignis hated the fact that he noticed how warm Noctis hand was, how he liked the feel of his fingers, not quite the smooth pampered hands of a prince anymore. "Ignis." He looked up, and he felt himself blush at the intensity of Noctis' gaze upon him. "What did my father promise to give you?"

"Ah." It was such a simple question - a logical question, even. The answer was quite important to him, and it was no mystery why. Ignis knew there had been others who had asked for wealth, a politically sound marriage, power, and so on. The typical sorts of rewards for this sort of thing. Ignis knew his own answer fell well within the range of asking for power, but the truth was that he hadn't asked for it because it was a position of power. He'd asked for it because of who that position fell under. "Your father promised that if I returned you to his court that I could return to your side as your advisor once more."

The instant the words were past his lips Noctis released his grip, and Ignis left, knowing in his heart that Noctis probably did not want to see anymore of him that day.

The next time he went into Harmony Coffee and Tea, Noctis said nothing at all about fae, his father, or deals, and Ignis knew that the subject had been dropped. He let it drop, for now. If Noctis needed time to come to terms with the fact that he was a fae and he was here to stay, then Ignis would give him that time. He wasn't really in a rush. It would be better to convince him slowly, anyway.

There was one thing that he really couldn't put off any longer, and though it was (of course) raining the day he decided to really get to work on it, the forecast said that the week after that ought to be bright and dry. By the next morning, Ignis' apartment was full of Spackle, bits of drywall, paint, brushes, tarpaulins, and a rather large fan he'd rented to sit in the doorway and keep the air moving. All three of the apartment's windows were open, and Ignis had mentally prepared himself to to completely ruin at least one outfit that day.

Down in the cafe, Ignis was greeted cheerily by Prompto, which meant that today was one of Noctis' normal days off. That was always a slight disappointment but nothing worrisome. Ignis idly wondered what Noctis did on his days off as he wated for his coffee. He couldn't imagine Noctis being the sort who cooked and cleaned his place on his days off. Had you asked Ignis even two months ago what Noctis did in his free time, Ignis might have said that he imagined Noctis went to bars or clubs. He'd been such a vivacious and energetic child that it only made sense, really. Perhaps, Ignis thought sadly, ten years ago that might have been the answer, but the injury had swallowed that side of him up and left him with a limp and a sort of lethargy.

"I saw you bring up that giant fan last night," Prompto's voice broke through his reflection. "What are you up to?"

"Ah. I'm just getting started on those repairs I signed up for."

"Yeah? How bad is it gonna be?"

"Not terrible. Truly, it looks worse than it is." They weren't talking about broken toilet bowls or burst pipes, which would have be truly horrific. "Eventually I'll need to replace a couple of doors, but today I'll do the repairs to the holes in the walls and then paint the walls that aren't drying. Tomorrow I'll paint the rest of it."

"Even that's a lot of work, though." His drink was offered to him, and Ignis took it with a shrug.

"It's all right. I've got the time."

His morning coffee was long gone and in the trashcan under the sink when he faintly heard steps coming up the stairs. It was too early for Prompto to be done with his shift, and the steps were too light to be Vyv. Mentally, Ignis prepared himself for an attempted robbery (not that there was anything in his place worth robbing) until, quite to his surprise, Noctis himself appeared behind the fan, looking as though he'd just rolled out of bed. He raised his knuckles and rapped them against the doorframe as they both couldn't see each other from where he was standing. "Can I come in?"

"You are always welcome here, Highness."

His nose crinkled up (cutely). "Ugh. Don't."

"Don't what?"

"The 'Highness' thing. I'm not a prince anymore."

"I must disagree. You will always be a prince." Well, until he was king, of course, but the point still stood. Just because they weren't in realm didn't mean that Noctis wasn't the Crown Prince of the Seelie Court. Even if his father disowned him, he would be a prince, if also a laughing stock with no power behind it. Noctis was in no danger of that, though, judging by how far Regis was willing to go to get him back.

"Still. Don't."

"All right. I shan't argue. Just Noctis then?"

"Noct is good." It was a nickname, which humans seemed to hand out like candy at Halloween. Fae shared nicknames even less frequently than their normal names - normally only with their spouse, if that was a relationship of trust.

"Noct, it is." He knew Noctis was only using that name to seem more human, yet it felt more intimate on his tongue all the same. He found he liked the way it felt in his mouth, short and succinct. He liked it more than was probably considered good and pure. He moved on from it. "What brings you here today?"

"Ah." Noctis ran one hand through his hair and froze. Ignis bit back a laugh as he realized that showing up here without his hair properly done had not been intentional. He'd simply forgotten to style it, and he'd only realized it just now. "Shit," he swore softly before he continued. "Prompto called. He said you needed help doing some painting."

"Prompto must need his hearing checked, for I quite distinctly remember telling him I had it in hand."

Noctis snorted. "That's just Prompto. You say you're fine, and he hears that you need a hug. It's too late now. He heard that you need help and he's making sure you get it. He said he'll be up after his shift with pizza and pop." Before Ignis could protest that any further, Noctis added, "I am not passing up free pizza. So chill."

"I assume you don't mean that literally."

"You shouldn't take anything I say literally. I'm so used to the humans, I might start saying thank you soon."

"The horror."

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated."

"Who said that was sarcastic?"

Noctis grinned at him, and Ignis' heart completely betrayed him by dancing away in his chest. "So. Painting?"

Loath as he was to have his prince doing any more work than he already had to in the cafe, it would also be quite suspicious if Prompto came up later to find only half the work done and Noctis doing nothing. "I suppose I can have you wait whilst I fix the holes."

"Oh, shit no. That's a two person job. We're doing that first. Together." Despite the swearing, the authority in Noctis' voice made Ignis smile. Not all hope was lost.

"As you wish."

As it turned out, Noctis was correct, at least about the bigger holes. It was easier with two people, both to put the new bits of drywall in and to then Spackle them down. From there, it was a matter of waiting. It needed to dry somewhat before it could be sanded, and then it needed to dry even further before those bits could be painted. They would just have to paint the undamaged walls first, Ignis supposed. For that, he wanted the proper dexterity in his hands to hold the brush or roller, so he pried off the work gloves he'd been wearing. Behind him, Noctis made a sound.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just. I thought that the gloves were part of your glamour?"

"Did you?" Ignis covered his laugh with a cough, and he saw Noctis' ears grow red with embarrassment.

"Yes! Just! Ugh. Like. I thought your hands were probably not very human, and gloves have less details to maintain than hands, so. You know." He made a quick motion with his hand. "Glamour."

"No," Ignis said, doing his best to keep his outward amusement to a minimum. "My hands are fairly human looking, I assure you. I just prefer wearing gloves when I'm out."

"So what do you look like? You know. Normally."

"Mostly like this," Ignis said as he worked to pry open one of the cans of paint. "Except for the ears."

Behind him, Noctis snorted. "Yeah, the ears are never the same." He paused for a moment. "And. You know. Same." Even without looking, Ignis felt like he could see the nervous fidget of Noctis pushing some of his bangs out of his face. "I pretty much look like this, too, except for the ears."

"I know," Ignis said softly. He still remembered how surprised he'd been to see that he hadn't bothered to disguise himself more. It made it's own sort of odd sense now that he'd been here for over a month, but at the time it had been baffling. Why not disguise yourself more? Had it been laziness? A weakness? Ignis didn't think so now, but before it had been such a wonderment.

"So,"Noctis said, purposely dropping the subject, Ignis was fairly certain, "What are we painting first?"

"The bedroom," Ignis answered easily. It had only had one hole in its walls, so to Ignis it made sense to start there. There'd be the least amount of retouching to do later.

"And you decided you wanted to paint it yellow?"

"Yes?" He looked up to Noctis, one eyebrow raised. Noctis raised an eyebrow in return.

"Why?"

"I was assured that a soft yellow would both be good in the small space and help one fall asleep."

Noctis snorted again. "Yeah, okay, but it's not very you."

"All right, Noct." Ignis paused for a moment too long to savor the way the nickname still felt on his tongue. Too short and harsh, yet somehow delightful. "What color would you have me paint it?"

"Hold on," Noctis mumbled as he knelt down. "Just let me . . ." His voice trailed off as he stuck the tip of one finger into the paint and began to swirl the paint around. Almost instantly, Ignis could see the color changing. Though the color was very unclear at first, Ignis soon realized that it was becoming some sort of purple before Noctis drew his hand away and before him sat a can of very lavender paint that he had certainly not bought at the hardware store. "There."

"So you think I'm a purple sort of person?"

"Yeah," Noctis said with a definitive sort of nod as his eyes tried to seek out something he could wipe his finger on. "Wanna try a patch before you commit?"

"Very well." He had the pans for the rollers, but for just a test of the color he'd go with a brush before he, as Noctis said, committed to it. It didn't take much, dipping the brush in the can and making sure none dripped between it and the wall. He was only three strokes into the test spot when he paused, stepping back to look at it fully.

"What do you think?" Noctis' nervous voice came from just behind him.

Ignis thought he had his new favorite color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta's Original Title: In Which Heart Eyes are Made


	4. In Which Muffins are Baked

Noctis lingered and hovered for nearly ten minutes outside the door. He was no stranger to this hallway. His place was, as they'd say, nicer, but Prompto's apartment was closer, and he had often come up here after shifts to play video games or eat junk food. This was only his second time coming up here for the second apartment though. Noctis had never liked the previous tenants to the point where he didn't even bother to remember their names, a high insult from someone like him. They'd been loud, and rude, and (judging by the holes he'd helped Ignis patch just the day before) violent.

Prompto said Ignis was the best neighbor he'd ever had. He was quiet and polite. Noctis was sure that the fact that Ignis was easy on the eyes and had paid Prompto for his help the night before hadn't hurt his opinion. In short though, Prompto liked Ignis, and, considering that Prompto liked most people, that was fine. The problem was that Noctis liked him, too, and he shouldn't.

Prompto referred to Noctis as suspicious and introverted, which made them great friends because "opposites attract." Ignis hit every single piece of suspicion in him. He was fae. He was here to take him back. He was familiar, and yet Noctis still couldn't quite put his finger on why. He came in for coffee every single day like a weirdo who had money to throw away, which, as a fae, he probably did. He was too formal and too polite. Ignis was just too . . . too, and yet here Noctis stood outside his door with a bouquet of flowers, still debating whether or not he should knock on the door.

Eventually, the choice was taken away from him when Ignis opened the door himself. His shoes were on and his hair was done, so Noctis assumed he was heading down for his first cup of coffee. That meant he'd lingered here longer than he'd meant to. Shit.

For a quickest of seconds, Noctis saw what he thought was surprise on Ignis' face, but then it was covered up by his typical polite smile. "Good morning, -" Noctis braced himself for the distinct displeasure of being called 'Highness.' "- Noct." He relaxed. He'd remembered. It made him irrationally happy. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

Yeah. Ten minutes ago, if Ignis was emerging. He didn't say that, and instead, forcing all his drive into the motion, held out the flowers. "I just wanted to give you these before I went." He also didn't say that he'd probably been here for a half an hour at this point, trying to work up the courage to knock. The protective plastic crinkled harshly in comparison to how gently Ignis lifted them from his grasp. "Just. You know." The look he was being given said Ignis very much did not know, and Noctis ducked his head shyly. "You don't have a lot of stuff in there yet, but you've got all the walls freshly painted, and . . . I thought flowers would liven it up a little."

"They're beautiful." Was that a blush? Noctis thought that was a blush on his face. It highlighted his cheekbones beautifully. Normally, the next words would be thank you, but since Ignis was a fae, he said nothing at all for a bit, and instead Noctis watched him look at the bouquet, eyes obscenely soft, fingers tracing the petals of a lily. If Prompto were here, he would say 'Get yourself a man who looks at you the way Ignis looks at flowers.' When that gaze turned back to him, Noctis felt himself heat up under the collar. Though it was soft, it was intense, and Noctis was now fairly certain he was blushing himself. "I'll go pop these in some water, and then I'll be down for my morning coffee."

Noctis had to clear his throat a little before "sounds good" would come out of his mouth without catching. It wasn't until Ignis closed the door that Noctis felt like he could breathe again. He felt like something important had just happened. He tried not to think about it.

Life eked by for a few days. His days were filled with a sense of both anticipation and dread, neither of which he could place. Nothing was really different. The routine Ignis had fallen into since coming here remained the same: mornings were for Ebony Shots, and evenings were for discounted baked goods. Harmony got her weight in cuddles every time he came in now, and something small and traitorous wriggled in his gut every time he saw Ignis with the cat in his lap. It was several days before Noctis could confidently call the wriggling thing a mix of warmth and . . . jealousy.

Ignis was here for a reason, he reminded himself again and again. That reason was to take him back to his father, not to connect with him. Someday, the other shoe would drop, and Noctis would feel like a fool for letting such emotions fester.

As fate would have it, it was only another week before that idea was shattered by an early morning disaster.

"What's wrong?" Ignis' voice cut through his panic like a knife, and a hand against his shoulder grounded him in the present rather than the quickly approaching future where all was doomed. "Are you all right?"

Noctis shook his head quickly, trying to not look directly at Ignis' face, to not get lost in his eyes. "It's the baked goods."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific. Here. Come sit." Though he relinquished the hold of his shoulder, it very much felt like Ignis had guided him around the counter to sit at one of the small tables. Harmony's purring body was handed over, and Noctis couldn't deny that a purring cat was always just a little comforting. If a cat could purr, not all was lost. "Now, the whole story from the top."

He took in a deep breath. "So, we don't make our baked goods here."

"No?"

"No. A local girl makes them." She had a name, of course, but Noctis didn't know it. She was just The Baker, and she showed up every morning before open. Prompto usually let her in. He was up that early for his runs anyway. "She's been sick the last couple of days, which, you know, happens, but--" His breath caught in his throat.

"But?"

"There's an order today. If it's not ready when the customer gets here--" Well, he was dead.

"Why don't you magic them?" The words were spoken softly and evenly. "The customer doesn't have to know."

Noctis quickly shook his head. "No way. If I magic them, everyone will know she didn't make them, so they'll think I can bake."

"Would that be so horrible?"

"I can't even make toast half the time, Ignis."

"I see." There was a long, uncomfortable pause. "I'll make them. You have ingredients and an oven, yes?"

"I. Yes?" They did. The kitchen was stocked with the basics, though they didn't have refrigerated things like eggs and milk. "Can you bake?"

"Yes." There was no more explanation than that. Just yes. "I'll get started now."

Noctis scrabbled to his feet, Harmony still in his arms, "I'll get you an apron! And go get milk, and eggs, and butter!"

Half an hour later saw them both in the kitchen behind the coffee counter with Ignis having dusted off the mixer and made sure the oven still worked. The order was set off to one side, and though Noctis had offered to help, he had been reduced to watching as Ignis worked as though he'd been in this kitchen for years. Like fluid, Noctis thought, he moved like water through the kitchen, mixing muffins and baking batter. It seemed that every time Noctis stepped out to make coffee for customers, more things would appear while he was gone.

After a line of six customers, Noctis came back to Ignis running water in the sink for washing and muffins sitting on the counter. "Ah," he said as Noctis settled back into his unobtrusive corner. Hands that were once again bare of gloves were quickly dried off with a towel and then reached for a muffin still cooling on the table. "Tell me what you think," he said as he offered the muffin to him.

The motion itself wasn't very special, but it evoked a memory long forgotten. A memory of him in the castle kitchens watching another boy taking a tray of cookies out of the oven. He'd been laughing. "Why is this so important?"

"You'll never know when such skills might come in handy, Highness." The boy had scooped up a cookie with a spatula. "Try one?"

The memory had been such a happy one, but more importantly, it completed a puzzle that Noctis had been trying to solve since the first time he'd seen Ignis. "Specs?"

They were still for so long that Noctis almost thought time had stopped, but then. "You gave me that name, you know." Ignis admitted. "You'd never seen anyone wearing glasses before. It stuck." Another frozen moment in time passed before Noctis finally reached out to take the muffin. "I didn't think you remembered me."

He hadn't. Still didn't, mostly. Specs had been a figure from his early childhood. He had flashes here or there of happy moments, when he thought deeply. The baking, reading books, playing games. They'd been together a lot, when he thought about it, but he'd forgotten him, or had tried to anyway. Why? He bought himself time by biting into the muffin. (It was still almost too hot to eat.) The answer he quickly came to was one tied to the primary emotion he felt when he thought his Specs. It was sadness. "You left me." That had been it. He'd woken up one day, and Specs had been gone. He'd never come back.

"Is that what you thought?"

Noctis tried to think back on the feeling, that feeling he'd squashed down as much as he could. How much it had hurt. "What else was I going to think?"

"Oh, Noct." Noctis couldn't face the sadness of Ignis' gaze, so he lowered his head. A second later, he felt fingers on his cheek, soft and gentle. "I didn't leave you. I would have never left you. I was sent away." The thumb caressed his cheek gently, and Noctis felt affection from it. Was that true? Had he been sent away? By who? His father? His mother? Why?

Before he could ask any of those questions, the door bell jingled, and Ignis jerked his hand back as though Noctis' skin had suddenly become fire.

"Hey!" came a familiar but not often heard voice. "Noct? I heard how fucked we are today, and--!" After a moment, Aranea's face poked around the doorway, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Do I smell muffins?"

"Ah. Uh. Yes?" Like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Noctis was nearly overcome with the desire to hide the muffin behind his back.

"I thought she said she wasn't coming."

"Yes, Noct told me that story as well. I opted to assist him."

"And you areeeee?"

"This is Ignis!" Noctis quickly jumped in, feeling deep in his soul how quickly this could sour. "He's a regular and lives in the apartment upstairs. And Ignis, this is Aranea. She owns the shop."

"A pleasure."

"Likewise." Aranea came fully into the kitchen now, her hands resting on her hips, eyes still all too suspicious. "It smells good, but I don't get the why. What stake have you got in it?"

"It's quite simple, really. I had the time and know-how. Noct was upset. I couldn't let it stand."

The grin that spread over Aranea's face was absolutely vicious. "You got a soft spot for my boy, do you?"

"Quite a large one, actually."

"You hear that, Noct?" Her eyes slid back over to Noctis, that grin still all too close to being predatory. "You've got this one wrapped around your fingers." If only she knew why Ignis was really here. If only. "Well, anyway, it's nice of you to help, but we gotta make sure the product's good."

"Please." Ignis stepped aside. "Help yourself."

"Don't mind if I do." A muffin was quickly grabbed from the rack, and if it was still really warm to the touch, Aranea didn't show it. She popped half of it right into her mouth, and Noctis found himself extremely nervous as she did so. He'd bitten into one, but truth be told, he couldn't remember how it tasted. He'd been too distracted by trying to parse out emotions and memories. Noctis found his mouth dry as she chewed. It wasn't until she smiled before she clearly swallowed that Noctis found himself feeling relieved.

"You want a job?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"A job. You know. Where I pay you to do this every day. Because let me tell you, these are leaps and bounds better than the stuff we normally get. No question. What do you say? If you don't already have a fancy office job."

"I don't know," Ignis said slowly, "if such a thing would be allowed."

Their eyes met, and without even thinking about it, Noctis nodded his head. "Go for it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"What do you say? Wanna talk? Hammer out some details?"

Ignis' gaze lingered on him a little bit longer, almost too long, before he finally looked back toward Aranea. "That sounds lovely."

"Great. I'll go get a box to get this order ready, and then we can go talk in my office, capisce?" Before Ignis could answer, Aranea was gone, headed to the way back of the shop where they kept all the small stuff in a dark place. Noctis cleared his throat.

"Specs?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

The way that Ignis froze in place was disjointed and startled. It was also amusing, and Noctis couldn't help but grin at it. Oh, he'd gotten him there, hadn't he? "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you just say that."

"Don't." He was still grinning, obscenely amused with how he'd gotten the other fae off guard, but he was also trying to be sincere. "I meant it, and I knew what saying it to you meant. Thank you, Ignis. I was in a bad spot, and you offered your help. It. It means a lot." He paused. "Even if you are only here because of my father."

"I think I said it before, Noct - I may have come by your father's order, but I am first and foremost yours."

Aranea returned then with a box almost as big as she was. "All right, boys! Do we think it'll all fit in here?"

"I'm not sure," Ignis said without skipping a beat, "I did mocha latte."

Mocha. Latte. Make a lot. Noctis blinked as he put two and three together. A pun? Had a fae that Noctis suspected more and more was unseelie just made a pun? And why did the very idea of such bad jokes make his heart race in his chest?

Aranea snorted. "Baking and coffee puns? Where did you find this guy, Noct?"

"I didn't," Noctis said as he drifted a little aimlessly toward the table to help them package the order. "He found me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Ala Beta: In Which a Pun Dazzles a Prince


	5. In Which There is Fishing

"So what do you do?"

The question came in a moment of lull one morning after all the baked goods had been made. There were no customers standing outside waiting for coffee. It was just them at a table, Harmony in his lap, Ebony Shot in his hands. For Ignis, the question seemed to have been pulled out of thin air. For Noctis, the way he was staring at his own mug fingers, tapping lightly against its sides, gave away that it was anything but an idle question.

"You're going to have to elaborate," he said at length, "for there are a couple of different ways I could take that." Several really. What he could do with his magic, or his occupation back in Faery, what he did to make his baking come out as it did, and so on. There were so many ways to take it.

"I mean." Noctis sighed. "Here. With your time. Sure, you come down to the cafe twice a day, and I'm sure you, like, sleep at night, but the rest of the time. What do you do?"

"That's quite an invasive question."

"You don't have to answer if it's like." Noctis paused to roll his eyes. "Jerking off all day."

"I assure you, that is not how I spend my time." The very thought - heavens. It was a good thing he had a cup of coffee to hide his face behind. "I certainly hope that is not what you thought."

"No." Noctis hummed. "I thought it was more like pacing around your apartment all day, drumming your fingers together and chuckling evilly as you plotted my demise." He put the coffee cup down on the table so that he could demonstrate. The evil chuckle was horrendous and and way he hunched his shoulders comical, yet even as he snorted into his cup, Ignis felt such an affectionate warmth fill his chest. He needed to stop this. He was not allowed to feel this way about Noctis. Not his prince.

"I feel confident in saying that this is also not how I spend my time."

"I bet it'd get boring."

"Quickly."

They paused for another moment, not uncomfortably, before Noctis spoke again. "I guess I'm really just asking if you'd be free tomorrow, after you make the cafe's muffins and stuff."

For Noctis, he was always available, but Ignis supposed it was polite of him to ask anyway. "Certainly. When do you need me?"

"Aren't you going to ask me why?"

"I don't need to. I'll say yes regardless."

"Ugh," Noctis groaned. "Then I guess I'm going to have to tell you regardless."

"If you want." This earned him a glower from Noctis, to which Ignis only lowered his mug and pointedly grinned at him in return before he lifted the mug back up. It was good, Ignis supposed, to occasionally remind Noctis that he wasn't a seelie who needed to know so they could feel. He was an unseelie, who only needed his rules and logic to follow. Noctis was his prince. He didn't need a reason beyond that to do as asked. Noctis could not like that all he liked.

"I just," he huffed. Cutely. "I think it's time for us to talk. Without. Hm. The possibility of people walking in on us." People in this case meant humans, Ignis knew. Up until this point they had only tiptoed around the topic. Quick conversations here or there. The largest risk had been Noctis himself changing the color of his paint. The risk had been low, but it had been there. Normal humans weren't supposed to know about them, with good reason. If they wanted to really talk, it was a good idea for them to do it somewhere privately.

It was also an excellent opportunity to try and convince Noctis to come home.

"When will you need me to be free?"

Noctis shrugged. "Eight? Eight-thirty? I'll come get you."

"I'll be waiting."

He was. He'd come down to the shop even earlier than normal to make all the pastries were finished on time, and then settled in next to the cat and drank coffee until the door opened and Noctis came in. Even on his days off his clothes were casual. There was absolutely nothing about his appearance that bespoke to a prince. Blue jeans and a white henley. A vest. A cap. Plain shoes. In his gloved hands he had a metal box and a fishing rod.

From behind the counter, Prompto gave a low whistle. "You're heading out on the water today?"

"You bet. It's a nice day. I've even convinced Ignis to come along." There was a pause during which Noctis gave him a once over. "He's a little overdressed for it though. You wanna go get into something more comfortable?"

No. "I'll make do."

Noctis shrugged. "Your call. Let's go."

"Try not to be bored out of your mind!" Prompto called after them.

They walked. It started as a straight line, down one of Caem's many hills, but at the bottom Noctis tapered off down several different side streets until, perhaps a half an hour later, they ended up at the marina. He thought for a moment that perhaps Noctis had his own boat, but Noctis went over and paid a man, so the answer was clearly not.

"Do you like fishing?" It seemed a rather idiotic question, considering that Noctis clearly had his own gear, and they were stepping into a rented boat, but it also seemed like the best way to broach the subject.

All he got was a nod accompanied by the words "it's the best."

They sat down, Noctis started up the boat, and then they didn't say anything for a little while. When they did stop, Ignis looked back and saw that the shoreline was barely a line behind them. No one was going to bother them here. That was for sure. They could talk freely. They didn't, though, until Noctis had a lure on a hook, and the hook in the water.

"What did you want to talk about?" He was sure that if he left it, Noctis would try to circle around to the topic. He'd think it was polite or gentle. Ignis didn't care to go through the pleasantries just then. They were in a tiny boat in the middle of the sea. Direct was the best route.

"I." Noctis' voice stuttered. "I don't know how to say it."

"Just say it. I won't be offended." That was perhaps not a whole truth. Perhaps it was only half. It didn't matter though. His place was to be not offended. His place was to be useful. His prince wanted or needed something. It was his job to provide.

"Us. I guess." Noctis' body leaned forward uncomfortably. Ignis resisted the urge to pull him back into the boat. "I don't remember a lot."

To say he wasn't offended would probably be accurate, though under the same vein, that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He'd figured out already that Noctis didn't really remember him. It still hurt. "It's all right," he forced out. "You were very young, even when I left." He was older, not a great deal older, but apparently enough that the memories stuck. It had probably been a relief for Regis, that his son had grown and in only a couple years had forgotten all about his first advisor.

"So I want to know what you remember. I want to know why you were sent away."

Ignis chewed his cheek. How much should he say? How little? One look at the strain in Noctis' face told him the answer. He told him everything, because that was what Noctis deserved. "I am half fae," he admitted, perhaps for the very first time aloud. "I had a human mother, who I am told was very relieved to be rid of her daemonic son. My father had no use for a half blooded son, but when the opportunity arose, he saw the use in giving a half blood to the seelie." He paused, trying to gauge Noctis' reaction. For the moment, he didn't see one, so he continued.

"You were five when my father gave me to you. As you know, seelie royals traditionally have unseelies for advisors. It makes sense. We keep you grounded. Stop you from both being too forgiving or too harsh. It was thought that it would be a good idea for us to be raised together and that my human half would allow me to connect with you emotionally while you would come to trust me and my advice." Oh, how they had regretted that. How they all had regretted that.

"And?"

Ignis realized he had paused again without meaning to. "We were inseparable."

"I remember that. Flashes of us together. You read to me. I think?"

"I did. It makes sense that this might be something you'd remember. I read to you a lot." Sometimes they'd been picture books. Sometimes human classics. No matter what the subject though, Noctis had always sat his head on Ignis' shoulder and listened. If he closed his eyes, he could still remember his warmth and sunshine scent against him. A ghost of his younger, happier years.

"So what changed?"

"I did something forbidden."

Noctis scoffed. "How old were you? Ten? How bad could it have been?"

"It could not have been worse." Back then, it was true that kisses were simply innocent pressings of lips, and it was true that back then Noctis had said the words to him, too, but it was wrong. The unseen maid had been right to tell the king. "I fell in love with you." The rod fell from Noctis' hands, and he scrambled to grab hold of it again before it fell into the water to be lost forever. He managed, but then those eyes turned back to him. They looked to be near to crying.

"How-is-that-bad?" The words were halted and jerky, and Ignis hated himself for letting Noctis feel that way.

"I am a servant, a half blood, and an unseelie. You are a prince, a pure fae, and a seelie. It is an ill match. Even if it were not, we could not bear children. It would have been catastrophic for the kingdom. Assuming you would have decided to return the feeling." He'd never told them. Even when he'd been brought before the king. He'd never told him that Noctis had already said he'd returned the feeling. He'd never said that it was worse than that - that Noctis had said "I love you" first.

He could still hear it in his head. Noctis asking for his name. _"Not Specs. Your real one. You know mine. Will you give me yours?"_ It could have been a trap, it always could, but Ignis had given it anyway. Nothing had changed from then to now. He would give Noctis anything. He'd given his prince his name, and what had he done with it? Not the thing any other fae would do. _"Ignis. I love you, Ignis."_

Hearing those words had been the happiest moment of his life. Now, the memory was nothing but pain.

"And he sent you away? For that? You decided to love someone, and he rewarded your love by sending you away from that person?"

"Yes. He was right to do so."

"Fuck that." Internally, Ignis blanched. That was a very seelie response. Fast. Emotional. Not thought through.

"I don't think you really understand the ramifications--"

"Fuck the ramifications!" Noctis practically screeched, and Ignis let his mouth shut. Clearly, Noctis needed to get the emotion out of his gut. He'd see the truth. Later. "Fuck anything that tells you who you can or can't love! Fuck all of it!" His hands shook so violently that the rod threatened to fall from his grasp again, and Ignis reached out to take it. Noctis didn't stop him. His hands instead went up to his eyes, palms pressing harshly against them.

For a long time he sat there, exactly in that position until, in Ignis' hand, he felt a tug. "Highness--"

"Noct!" came the screech again, correcting him, until Noctis saw why he'd spoken. "Shit. Here." With hands far gentler than his words, Noctis took the rod back. Ignis watched as Noctis battled with the fish, though really, the battle was largely one-sided. The fish didn't stand a chance against Noctis' skill and strength. In was over within a minute. The prize was a sizable fish that Ignis thought might be a snapper. Whether it was a snapper or not, it must have had some sort of value, for Noctis didn't throw it back. It went into the box.

Once it was secure, Noctis settled back into his seat. Perhaps, Ignis thought, catching the fish had been the distraction he'd needed from whatever he was feeling. That would be good. Whatever had been going through his head had not been good.

For a while, there was silence between them as Noctis went back to fishing. Unlike before, it wasn't heavy, and Ignis began to relax. Perhaps with anyone else he'd call this boring. Not with Noctis. Eventually, it would be Noctis who broke the somewhat blissful silence. "Was it nice? Where he sent you?"

It wasn't difficult to recall the manor. It had resided in eternal spring with a manicured lawn, blooming flowers, and sunshine. It was the sort of place that rich humans went to for vacation. The sort of place most people would say you'd be crazy to want to leave. Beautiful, warm, relaxing. Ignis had spent many hours under a tree in the front lawn reading books. He'd spent an equal number of hours in the kitchens learning to cook and bake extravagant things. "It was a lovely place."

"But?" Noctis licked his lips. "I feel there's a but there."

His place had been somewhere between servant and guest. Lord of the manor and servant alike had detested him. No matter how the sun shined, it could not replace the warmth of a head against his shoulder as he read. There was no one to chide him over vegetables in his dishes. There was no one. "It was very lonely."

He remembered the day he'd heard there'd been an attack on the prince's life. Among the staff, there had been hushed whispers and gossip. For Ignis there had only been a pain like a knife to his stomach and a week spent in shocked solitude. A pain in his heart he could only name as grief over someone who had not actually died. Later, when he'd heard that the king was seeking someone, anyone, who could find his son and would give them any reward they asked for, he'd run with scarcely more than the clothes on his back.

He should have realized it then. That he'd left behind luxury and ease for something so difficult that anything would be offered if he did it. The idea that he could do anything without loving Noctis, that it had only been a childhood crush, was a lie he'd told himself. He'd never stopped. That didn't mean it wasn't still wrong.

"You don't have to go back there," Noctis said, breaking Ignis from his reverie.

"I wouldn't have." Perhaps the search for Noctis had just been an excuse, even, to get away from that place and it's lonely halls, its resentful stares, and haunting gardens. There had long since been nothing there for him. Nothing left to learn or do. It had been a place to stick him, like a box on a high shelf where no one had to think about him and what he'd done. He would have never gone back. "Even if I'd failed."

"You have failed," Noctis told him. Their eyes met, and Ignis could see the anger that still danced behind them. "You may have found me, but I'm not going back. Not now. Maybe not ever."

He wanted to press the issue, to tell Noctis that his kingdom needed him, tell him how his father and mother missed him, tell him how lost his champion was without him. With that shadow of anger on his face, Ignis knew better than to say any of those things right now. Time. Noctis needed time, and then maybe he could convince him to return to his proper spot as prince of the seelie and to keep him on as his advisor. For now, he decided, he'd leave it be and enjoy this moment where he could pretend that they'd be in this boat forever. Close, if not actually together.

Three fish and a woman's shoe later, Noctis asked what time it was. The lock screen on his phone read 4:23, and with a sigh Noctis put the rod away and started up the boat. Apparently the boat needed to be back by five, and they were far enough out that they were pushing it as it was. Indeed, by the time the boat was back in its spot and Noctis was returning the keys it was 4:57. Had they really spent all that time out there? Ignis had not noticed it feeling like a particularly long time, and now that he thought about it, it was only just now that he was getting hungry. His legs were certainly stiff though.

"I'll walk you back to the cafe."

"All right," he agreed, but he felt a sadness about it. It felt like he was drawing out something that he didn't want to end yet should never have happened. A dread. A dream was ending.

The walk back was a great deal like their time on the boat, spent mostly in comfortable silence until they actually reached the front of the shop, where once again Noctis broke it. "Do you love me now?"

The question was like being slapped across the face. His breath hitched in his throat. "I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask."

"I do." Noctis took a step closer to him. "Do you love me now like you did then?"

Lie, his brain told him. Lie and move on with your life. When he opened his mouth, the truth came tumbling out instead. "I don't think I ever stopped."

Despite everything that Noctis had said about love and how he felt about his father's actions in the boat, Ignis had expected some form of disgust as a reaction. When Noctis' hands fisted in his jacket, the action seemed to follow that line of thought. What did not follow that line of thought was the pull instead of shove, and the press of their lips together a moment later.

It was quick and chaste, yet somehow frantic with Noctis' hands all but wrapped in the fabric, the backs of his arms pressed needfully against his chest because there was no space between them. Even when he pulled back the hands continued to grip him tightly, as though he thought he'd run. He perhaps wasn't wrong. "Go on a date with me?" It was only the inflection with which it was said that told Ignis it was a request and not a demand. The inflection told him he could say no.

He should. He should say no. It wasn't right. It wasn't what was meant to be. He should tell him that he could not go on a date with him. He should pull away. Walk away. Then he should do the thing Noctis had suggested the day before: pace his apartment and think of what way he could possibly get him to return home, and yet when he opened his mout,h he once again found him speaking his heart's desire. "Yes."

Noctis smiled, and for a second all his doubt fell away. The hands still holding him pulled him down again, just a little, this time to press a kiss against his cheek. "Sunday?"

"All right."

"Great. I'll be here for you at five." Noctis released him then and was gone. Ignis already missed his presence.

He stood there for a minute, feeling unsteady on his pins, before he pulled Harmony's door open and walked inside. He was immediately greeted by a wolf whistle. His eyes dragged over to the counter where Prompto leaned against it, a knowing grin on his face. "Did you have something to say, Prompto?"

"Did you guys actually do any fishing? Or did you just get in the boat and make out for like seven hours?"

"I assure you, there was definitely fishing." And no making out. If only Prompto knew what they had actually talked about in that boat. If only he knew how angry Noctis had gotten.

"Fishing for _love_."

"Aren't you supposed to be taking my order?" Prompto weaved back behind the counter, ducking as though he expected Ignis to reach out and strike him (a tempting thought.) His order was taken in a completely serious manner, but the delighted and high pitched cackle that followed him as he made his drink was anything but.

There wasn't really anything Ignis could do but sigh and accept it. Noctis had asked him out on a date, and he had been foolish enough to say yes. Foolish, inappropriate, wrong. Yet in his stomach bubbled joy and excitement that he could not quash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title via Beta's Brain: SHA LA LA LA KISs tHE GIRL


	6. In Which There is a Storm

Noctis hid his face in his hands and screamed into them.

He'd never be able to do that again. He wasn't even really sure how he'd managed to do it the first time without completely falling flat on his face. He'd been so angry. Not at Ignis. Ignis had done nothing wrong. He knew what it was like to be angry at Ignis. He wasn't sure he'd ever really known what it was like to be angry at his father before. Even when he'd fled the kingdom, he'd never been particularly angry. He just hadn't been able to deal with it. The plan had been to avoid his father's men for long enough to heal, or at least to put enough time between him and the incident. The plan had always been to eventually return home.

That wasn't the plan anymore.

Noctis didn't do big elaborate detailed plans. He did general ideas. Run away, heal, and go back was now replaced with something along the lines of stay in Caem forever and woo Ignis into staying too. He wasn't sure how he was going to do it yet, but part one of wooing Ignis was complete; he'd asked him out on a date. That was where the anger came in. He'd only been able to do it because he'd been angry. Without the anger, he'd have stumbled around it for weeks, wondering if Ignis even liked him well enough for that. Sure, he'd said he did as a kid, but that had been decades ago. Without anger, he'd have never been bold enough to ask about now.

He could still feel Ignis' lips on his own, even though it had been hours since then. He had perhaps not been one hundred percent positive about how he'd felt until that moment. He definitely wanted Ignis to stay with him. He wanted those stupid and unrealistic happily ever afters with that man. He didn't think Ignis was sure yet. Noctis had to make him sure. The problem being was that he was a giant idiot and there was no way he was going to convince Ignis via charm. He had to come up with another plan.

Prompto, unhelpfully, said that he just had to sleep with him and Ignis would be his forever. Noctis had rolled his eyes at that. Maybe Prompto was thinking that for Ignis specifically that would earn loyalty, but even Prompto should know that oftentimes even having a child that bound them together did not keep couples together for very long.

Noctis screamed a couple more times into his hands, not caring if his neighbors heard it, before he gave up and went to bed. The answer was clearly not coming immediately. He had until Sunday to start figuring it out.

He spent the next few days obsessing about it in between trying to play it cool to Ignis when he came in for his coffee and to bake his daily batch of goods. There was definitely something different between them now. Noctis felt like he was constantly fighting the urge to touch Ignis, even in just small ways. He didn't. He kept his distance, but the desire was there - just his shoulder, or just to loop their pinkies together. He wondered if Ignis had the same urge. He didn't seem to be, but he was unseelie inside. Resisting while making it look easy was probably simple. He hoped Ignis wanted to touch him too. He hoped hard.

Saturday was the first time their date was brought up again. "Are we still on for tomorrow evening?"

Noctis felt his face heat up, and he couldn't even look in Ignis' direction. "Yep. We absolutely are."

"You said five o'clock, correct?"

Was that what he'd said? Must have been. Ignis would remember. "Yep. I'll come get you from here. Just like before."

"All right. I'll be here."

"Ignis?" Noctis whipped his head around, internally sighing in relief when he found Ignis hadn't gotten out the door yet.

"Yes, Noct?"

Deep breath. Don't faint. "Are you looking forward to it?"

Ignis smiled. It was a nice smile that made Noctis' heart pound even faster in his chest. "More than anything."

Noctis felt like he nearly died on the spot.

After work, still without a plan and feeling listless, he wandered. He eventually found himself down at the marina, which was typical. Even when his mind was somewhere else completely, he seemed to want to go fishing. He rolled his eyes, letting his head tilt back. It hit him. He wasn't here because he wanted to go fishing. He had his date idea, and he was suddenly overflowing with excitement. He ran all the back to his apartment, and for the first time in a long time, sleep did not come easily.

By the time he properly woke up in the morning, the idea had properly cooked in his head, and he felt more like Prompto than himself as he bounced around his apartment tidying and getting ready even though he didn't have to leave for another five hours. It was a mix of nerves, both good and bad. Excitement over the date itself and the idea he finally had. Dread over whether Ignis would like it - like him. Ignis had said he'd never stopped loving him, but things could change. Noctis did want things to change, but not for them to grow further apart. He wanted them to grow closer together.

By three o'clock his apartment was as spotless as it ever got for him. His laundry was in the dryer, his dishes had even been washed and put away, and the floors had been swept. When was the last time his apartment had been this clean? Noctis struggled to remember. Normally he skipped right over anything not urgent and went fishing or played video games. Next he'd find himself cooking casseroles in a lacy apron. He purposely tried not to think about whether Ignis would like that or not and went to take a shower.

Clean and mostly dry, he found himself feeling like a chick flick movie montage as he was going through outfit after outfit. It wasn't even as though his wardrobe had that much variety. He had t-shirts, dorky fishing stuff, jeans that may or may not have fit correctly, work clothes, and, to be perfectly honest, not much else. He was lucky to have eventually found a dark blue turtleneck that he was pretty sure Prompto had actually given him at some point, probably for the very reason that he didn't have anything "nice." He paired it with his autumn jacket, more because he knew it was going to get cooler once the sun went down than fashion, jeans that . . . seemed to fit properly, and shoes that were just shoes.

He was just grabbing his phone, keys, and wallet to head out the door when he groaned to realize that, of course, he was going to be meeting up with Ignis, who would be dressed to the nines like he always was. What an odd pair they'd look like. There wasn't anything he could do about it now unless he wanted to run to the store and then run to the cafe with a tag probably still attached.

Noctis just walked to the cafe instead.

As he thought, Ignis was already waiting for him. Ignis, of course, looked great in a button up, jacket, and slacks with some sort of fancy looking shoe that Noctis knew there's probably a specific name for. Noctis sighed internally. He looked like an idiot by comparison. He should have thought of that before, but there was nothing to do about it now. "You're a little early."

"So are you," Ignis shot back before he drained his coffee cup. Noctis picked Harmony up from her spot next to Ignis at the table and plunked her back in her basket in the window. She didn't complain, especially not when he spared her a few extra seconds to dig his fingers into her glorious belly fur. "Are you ready?"

"I am. Are you?"

No. He'd been taken over by anxiety. He can't say that, though - not when he's the one who suggested the date in the first place. "Yep. Let's go."

They needed to bide their time until nightfall, which was several hours away, yet, but Noctis had ideas now and walking everywhere definitely took up time. Despite his longer legs, Ignis fell into stride next to him, and Noctis was once again overcome with the urge to hold his hand. It would be okay, wouldn't it? They were on a date. Holding hands wasn't too much, right? He resisted anyway. "I kind of got the impression that you don't really know your way around Caem yet."

"That's true," Ignis said. "I don't."

"Great." Well, maybe not great, but it at least fit in with his plans! "I thought I'd give you something like a mini-tour."

"Sounds lovely. I'll follow your lead."

Their first stop took them toward, but not to, the marina. Instead, they walked past the boats and docks completely and kept on going for several more streets before they ended up walking into a building that Noctis knew to be the library. He was sure it didn't take Ignis long to figure it out either, considering all the shelves of books.

"For such a small town, this is quite the large library."

"Right?" Noctis smiled. Score. He'd been hoping for that sort of reaction accompanied by the sparkle in Ignis' eye that Noctis didn't think he was aware of. It was that look that gave away the idea that underneath it, he was trying to figure out how long it would take him to read all the books. "When I first came here, I thought that Gladio would probably die happy here, but you seem to like books too, so . . . thought you'd like it here."

"Gladio?"

Ah. Noctis ducked his head a little bit. "My Champion."

"Is that his name?"

"Nickname."

Ignis made a sound that Noctis thought fell on the side of surprised. "He didn't strike me as a bookworm."

"He is, though. Like the worst. I think--" Noctis wetted his lips. "I think you would have been good friends." They probably could have spent days talking about a single poem, and Gladio would have loved his baked goods.

"If we went back, you could introduce us properly." Noctis gave him a look that he desperately hoped portrayed his suffering at even hearing that sentence. All he got in return was a very unseelie smile. "Give me the tour?"

They wandered through stacks of books for what felt like an hour to Noctis before they finally reached the back of the library where there were several comfy chairs and a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. This was where Ignis stopped short, and internally Noctis smirked. He'd known, or hoped, that Ignis would like this. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"It is," Ignis agreed as he walked up to the windows and gazed out into the ocean beyond. "It makes you feel very small. I'm not sure if it's terrifying or freeing."

"A little of both." Noctis looked out too. It didn't really, but to look out at it, it felt like the ocean went on forever only to end here, lapping at the stones that lay only a few feet beyond the window. "It's unknown. Freedom can be terrifying because it's free. There's no safety net."

"Sounds like you know from experience."

"Yeah. A little." He shrugged. "It might have been less scary with someone by my side." With you, he wanted to say. Would you walk into the terrifying unknown with me? Would you go and be free with me? Even if it meant we couldn't go back?

"Perhaps so." When he looked up at Ignis, he thought he saw a blush on his face. Maybe he'd gotten the message, even without him saying it.

After the library, they wandered around the shops downtown until Noctis noticed that the sun was finally properly setting and everything was starting to have a purple-shadowed tint. He grinned. "Are you hungry?"

"I could certainly eat."

"Great."

Noctis knew that Ignis was probably expecting some sort of a restaurant, but that wasn't the sort of place that Noctis lead them to. No, Noctis lead them out of the business sector and down toward one of the churches that Noctis was sure neither of them would ever set foot in for its intended purpose. It was here that his target sat, still open, if a little lonely-looking at this time of night. "Score!"

"What is it?"

"It's a taco truck!" He ran the rest of the way to it, and Ignis followed, "I'll have one of everything."

The man in the truck raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't have one of everything, and if I did, I don't think you could handle it all."

Noctis smiled. "Then I'll just have one of everything you've got left." The man inside didn't really think they could handle that, either, but soon enough they were being handed four varieties of tacos and a burrito bowl that may or may not have been one of Dante's nine circles of hell. He gave Ignis two of the tacos and tried to speed eat his own while the bowl swung in the bag on his elbow. He spared a glance up at the clear sky that was an ombre of pink, purple, and night blue. He picked up his pace a little. Ignis didn't even seem to notice. Good.

"What do you think?" He asked once he'd managed to get the tacos down without spilling half of them all over the sidewalk. "I know it's probably not what you were expecting, but--"

"It's good, Nocits. It's very you. And it's good."

Relief flooded him from his tiptoes to his fingertips. Aside from Harmony's itself, that was his favorite place to eat. He'd been worried that Ignis, who seemed to maybe like the finer things, wouldn't like it. "Not too spicy?"

"This second one almost is, but not quite, and that's good."

Ignis ate more slowly, and they were almost to their destination when he finished. He chuckled. "Back to the marina?"

Noctis shrugged his shoulders up against his neck. "Yeah, but not for fishing this time."

"No?" There was a tease in that tone, and Noctis stuck his tongue out at him.

"No. You'll see."

The keys to the boat he'd rented were waiting for him. He'd had to talk the owner into letting him rent it after he went home for the night. That had been a bit of a fight, but it would be worth it, he hoped.

"This is a nicer boat than last time," Ignis commented idly as they climbed in. Noctis didn't respond to the comment, but he was right. It was. "Are you sure you just don't want to do some night fishing?"

"I'm sure." There were fish that only came out at night, but Noctis couldn't afford that yet. Someday he'd have his own boat with all the right equipment and much less possibility of falling off the sides. Then maybe night fishing would happen, but not tonight.

Full dark had set in by the time Noctis stopped the boat. Perfect. Exactly what he'd wanted. "So what are we doing out here, Noct?"

Noctis smiled. He hadn't noticed yet. Even more perfect. "Look up."

He did, and Noctis got to see the moment that Ignis realized what they were out here for. He could literally see it in his eyes, in the way they widened and his mouth fell open. "Oh," he gasped softly. "The stars."

They were probably a little close to shore for humans, but they weren't humans, and they had superior eyes, no matter how Ignis might hide his behind glasses. This was far enough away from town for them to see all the stars that could be seen. "I thought we'd maybe lie back for a while and watch them."

"All right."

Noctis was glad he'd gone with a bigger size boat. There was no way they'd both of managed to lie down in his normal choice - in fact, even here they barely managed, and it wasn't really comfortable. The view was worth it, though. Beautiful, with stars so numerous that they seemed to blanket the whole sky. Light that he knew was millions of years old just reaching them now. "I don't even think we could make out constellations like this."

Terrified, yet wanting, Noctis pulled together enough courage to slip his hand into Ignis' for the first time all evening. "We could try?"

His courage was rewarded by Ignis squeezing his hand tightly in return. "Let's."

They did for a while. Whispering back and forth to each other even though they both knew there was no need to be quiet, pointing up at stars and trying to connect them to one another, all while their hands remained connected between them. This, Noctis thought. This was a moment he'd remember forever. He'd mostly forgotten the Ignis from his youth, but this, here and now, he was going to remember until he died. There was no doubt in his mind that the feeling in his heart was love. He'd remember.

He didn't want the moment to end, but time does pass by, and eventually, Noctis realized he must have fallen asleep at one point or another, because it seemed that between blinks he went from staring at the stars in the sky to a complete blanket of clouds. "I think it's going to storm," Ignis whispered into his ear. "We should head back."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Not long," Ignis said as they started to sit up and the wind buffeted them. Yep, Ignis was definitely right. A storm was coming. "The wind came in and then the clouds followed within minutes, seemingly out of thin air."

"That happens on the ocean sometimes. Let's get back to shore before it really starts."

They didn't quite make it. They were hearing thunder over the roar of the engine before they even pulled into the marina, and the rain started to come down in sheets just as they were literally stepping out of the boat. Noctis was soaked within seconds, and he was sure Ignis was too. Shit. "Let's just go to my place!" He shouted over the storm as he put the keys back in their proper spot. "It's closer!"

Even in the dim light he could see Ignis' mind trying to work it out. He was probably trying to say no, because Noctis was pretty sure neither one of them was stupid enough to not know where that would lead (or at least Noctis knew where he wanted it to lead). Ignis opened his mouth just as a particularly hard wave of rain hit them. His mouth closed again as he flinched. It reopened. "All right. Lead the way."

They ran. It took five minutes running, up three streets, two lefts and a right later for them to get to Noctis' place. It was late, and they had to be quiet, yet in the hallway leading to his apartment he could hear the water dripping off them almost comically loud. It was almost a surprising that the super didn't storm out of her room to chastise them. He was glad when his door shut behind him.

"Go take a shower," Noctis said between gulps of air. "I'll get you something to wear."

"What about you?" Fingers trailed on his cheek, and it took all he had to not lean into the touch. He wanted. He had to wait.

"I'll take one after."

"Are you sure?"

"The longer we talk about it, the longer it is."

Ignis didn't argue that, and after a few moments, he found the bathroom and disappeared inside. Noctis set about the task of finding him clothes to wear after. It wasn't easy. Ignis was both broader and several inches taller than him. Eventually, he had to settle of a pair of tartan patterned pajama pants and a plain t-shirt. It was late, right? Ignis wasn't going to have to look professional again until his normal clothes had dried in the morning.

Feeling stupid and somewhat childish, he knelt by the bathroom door, knocked, got an answer, and then opened the door the smallest bit and pushed the clothes in. A cowardly move for someone who was really hoping to get the other man in bed with him by the end of the night.

He paced, still wet, until Ignis emerged roughly fifteen minutes later, looking laughably adorable in clothes that clearly neither suited or fit him. If he weren't so wet and cold he probably would have snarked something sarcastic at him, but as it was he rushed past him, mumbling about not taking long and making himself comfortable.

Noctis hadn't been lying about not taking long, he was in and out as quickly as he could manage. He'd been wet and cold long enough, and now he wanted to be dry and warm. When he left the bathroom warm and dry was little far off yet, but he wasn't shivering and dripping anymore. That was a start.

Ignis was in his kitchen. "What are you doing?" He asked as he padded over. Trying to be bold, he slipped his arms around Ignis' waist. When Ignis didn't pull away, he settled in more firmly and set his cheek against his back. At least Ignis was already warm.

"The original plan was to make coffee, but it's rather late for caffeine so it was going to be cocoa instead. I'd hoped for it to be ready by the time you emerged, but you were too quick."

"Nuh uh."

"No?"

"Nope," he popped the P, which probably made it sound rather childish, but then again, he probably was at least sometimes. "I make the hot drinks in this relationship. It's literally my job."

Ignis moved, and Noctis wanted to whine at the loss. He didn't move far. In fact, all he did was turn around so they were facing each other. They weren't touching, but seeing his face was better. "Is that so?"

"I think it's fair. You bake, I make drinks. Yeah?"

Ignis was smirking. "To be fair, I can do more than bake."

"Ohh. Do you cook too?"

"I do. I'd be happy to show you, if you like." Outside, the lightning flashed, thunder boomed, and the lights flickered. "Perhaps not now though. Rain check?"

Noctis chose to ignore the pun. Nope. Not commenting on how it was raining outside. Nope. Not falling for it. He had other things to do. "Not now is good. I don't have much in my fridge anyway."

"I'd noticed." Ignis tilted his head back to look at the pot on the stove. Noctis wanted his eyes on him. "Why don't I finish this up before the power goes out, and we can head off to sleep."

"I was thinking we might do something else, actually."

"Were you?" Eyes glanced back over at him, and yes, that was good.

"Yes." Noctis pushed himself up on his tiptoes and (hopefully playfully) brushed their noses together. "I was."

It was Ignis who closed the distance between them this time, and Noctis smiled into the kiss. Just what he'd wanted, at least to start. He pushed his hands up into Ignis' still damp hair, loving and hating how soft it was to the touch. He kissed back wishing they wouldn't need to part for air. The heat building up inside him told him this was right, and that he wasn't going to be satisfied until he got everything, just like the spoiled prince he really was.

When they did finally part for air, Ignis reached back, fumbling for the knobs on the stove, and Noctis smiled. That was a good sign to him. "If I asked," he whispered between pants, "would you come to bed with me?"

He heard a great shuddering breath, followed by a very soft "yes" that begged another question.

"Would it be just because I asked? Or do you really want me?" He didn't want it if Ignis were to say yes just because he was his prince, just because he wasn't supposed to say no. He wanted it only if Ignis really wanted it too.

"Oh, Noct." Ignis laughed. It came out a little breathless and weak, but it was definitely a laugh. "You have no idea how much I want you." He might, Noctis thought. He might know, if it was even half of how much Noctis wanted him in return. He didn't say that, though. Instead he kissed him again, with less coordination and more passion, this time, mixed with the relief in his gut.

When they parted again, Noctis was pleased to note that both Ignis' lips and face were red. He tugged at an ear. "Off."

"That's my ear. There's nothing on my ear, Noct, unless you mean . . . " Ignis frowned, and Noctis wanted to kiss it away. "You do, don't you? You mean my glamour."

"Yes, the glamour. I want all of you, Specs." He smiled, feeling suddenly shy. "I'll take mine off, too?"

"That's only fair, I suppose."

There was no fanfare to removing the glamour, only that it was there one moment and not the next. Noctis had once thought that Ignis had glamoured quite a bit about himself, but there wasn't really much at all, just as he'd said back when they'd fixed up his apartment. He was mostly the same, except for the ears, and perhaps his cheekbones were a little sharper. Even his spots were still there. Good. Noctis loved those spots. Feeling curious, he ran his thumb under the curve of one sharply pointed ear. Ignis shuddered. Feeling powerful, he did it again and got the same result.

"That's sensitive, and you know it."

"Or at least I do now." He was so going to exploit that later. Hopefully not too much later. "Fair's fair." Removing his own glamour wasn't much either, he knew. Mostly the ears, just the same. He knew that where Ignis had the upward curve and pointedness of most unseelie, he in turn had the almost stereotypical downward long ears of a seelie. He was prince, after all. He was supposed to be a typical specimen. The ears weren't what Ignis zeroed in on first, though.

"You have pink flecks in your eyes now." He paused for second before he bothered to add, "you didn't, when we were children."

"They must have developed when I got older, I guess. Stronger, maybe?"

"Hmm. Perhaps." Now, was when his eyes moved toward his ears. "These--" Ignis reached up and rubbed them, his thumb caressing inside the shell of it. Okay, perhaps Ignis had a point. That felt incredibly sensitive in simultaneously the worst and best way. Noctis couldn't help but let out a soft sound. He didn't miss the way Ignis smirked at it. "These are exactly as I remember them. Beautiful."

Noctis didn't let Ignis talk any more after that. He dragged him off toward his bedroom.

They didn't get very far before Noctis knew he'd made the right choice. They didn't get very far before he knew he could never let Ignis go after this. They'd only gotten their shirts off. He'd only gotten so far as to expose his scar. In his excitement and lust, he'd forgotten about it until that moment. In that moment, fear had filled him. He'd half expected Ignis to change his mind, to put his shirt back on and go to the couch or leave entirely. He didn't.

Noctis didn't have a lot of feeling in that spot anymore, but he could feel for sure hair tickling against his back, and he was fairly sure that there were lips pressing against the scar. It didn't hurt. It barely even tingled. It did so many things to him anyway. "When I heard what had happened . . . " Ignis' voice trailed off, and Noctis focused on the way he could feel the warmth of his breath on his skin. "It felt like I died inside that day. I should have been there."

"No," Noctis whispered. No, because if he had been there that day, he would have died there that day like Dandelion. "I need you here now." He didn't need a memory dead and gone. He needed Ignis here with him today. Now that he had him, he knew. He could never let him go, and that meant they could never go back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Beta's Title: In Which Thunder Grandpa is the Best Wingman


	7. In Which Plans Come to Fruition

Ignis awoke in a bed that was not his to an unfamiliar ceiling.

When he shifted his body, he found that his body ached in a not wholly unpleasant way, and that was really when where he was hit him. He was in Noctis' apartment, in Noctis' bed, after having slept with Noctis. His prince. He'd slept with his prince, and that was officially every single line in the sand crossed. He had come after Noctis with the intention of purely following the instructions of bringing him back, and yet here he was, dragging his prince in the exact opposite direction.

The storm was still raging outside, and Ignis watched it through Noctis' window with a feeling of kinship. Thoughts crashed and clashed inside him. He shouldn't have done this. He shouldn't have done any of it. He'd let himself get overtaken by emotion, like a seelie. If he really wanted what was best for Noctis, he'd get up out of this bed, get dressed, leave, be gone from Caem by sunrise, and let someone else find him, convince him to return home to his parents and duty. It was a fact. He was hindering, not helping, and yet he didn't get up. He just kept thinking he should leave, and the storm carried on.

He almost got there. Ignis had been just about to remove the covers and get up to leave forever when Noctis screamed behind him. The sound nearly made Ignis jump out of his own skin. When he sat up to look, he found that Noctis, too, had moved into a seated position in his screaming. He knew better than to try and touch him. Night terrors, they were called. Touching him might make it worse. He waited, hands itching to move, until the screaming subsided. It was probably only thirty seconds, but it felt like thirty years.

When he was finished, he took in great shuddering breaths, and that was when Ignis dared to reach out and touch his shoulder. At first, he flinched, which hurt, and then he turned quickly and buried his face against Ignis' shoulder, which hardly felt any better. "Noct?"

"It only happens when I sleep on my back." The mumbled words tickled against his neck, but Ignis didn't move. He sat frozen in place. "It's like the pressure or something brings it all to the forefront. It's not you. I promise." Ignis hadn't really thought it had anything to do with him, but he recognized that Noctis was thinking he might have spoke to a fear. It was a fear of pushing Ignis away - a fear of him leaving. He _had_ been about to leave.

Ignis wrapped his arms around Noctis' shoulders and leaned back. Noctis didn't fight him, in fact, he seemed to simply melt against him. After a minute or so he began to run his fingers through Noctis' hair, and soon enough, his breathing evened out, and Ignis knew he'd fallen back asleep.

All thought of leaving was gone. The world Noctis had left behind could burn. He didn't want to live in a world where he wasn't at Noctis' side.

Morning came and time moved on. Leaving wasn't an option, but he did still have a mission to bring Noctis back if he could. He couldn't forget it, not fully. He brought it up at what probably seemed like the oddest times, subtly suggesting that there was a home to go to, things Noctis probably missed. Noctis rarely gave his comments the time of day at all, and Ignis didn't push, because where they were now . . . it was happiness. He'd lose it if they went back, even if he could live with it. He could. He could live standing by Noctis' side and knowing they could never touch again. He could live with it, knowing that he would probably be married off to a seelie woman who would bring him joy and children. He could live with it, as long as he was there by his side, but that didn't mean he didn't want to hold onto this happiness as long as he could with only brief reminders that it could not last likely that forever.

Months passed in an odd sort of bliss. The thought that there was an end to it was always there, but the rest felt like perfection. It wasn't as though things changed greatly. Mornings were still baking and Ebony shots, evenings were for sitting in the cafe petting a cat and chatting. Sundays were now date nights that stretched throughout the whole day though, and little by little he started to notice that he spent his nights sleeping in Noctis' bed more than his own, and there was never any rush for him to leave in the morning. Quite the opposite. It always seemed like Noctis begged him to stay just a few minutes longer.

It wasn't until an evening in the middle of January that a little something extra gave. "It's really coming down out there." The words harkened back to a warmer time just after he'd arrived. It had been rain then, and now it was snow falling from the sky.

"Are you going to be all right to get back to your place?"

Noctis didn't answer for a long time, but then he softly asked, "Can I stay at your place tonight instead?"

The answer, of course, was yes. They shut down the rest of the cafe, made sure Harmony was well in place for the rest of the night, and toed their way the few feet over to the door that led up to the apartments above. In those few feet alone they seemed to get covered in flakes and Noctis laughed as they ran up the stairs, brushing the melting white dust off as they went.

The most notable thing about the rest of the evening was that it was the first time Noctis was spending the night there. He'd been inside the place, of course. He'd helped him paint it. But when the time came for Ignis to go to sleep, it was a little out of place for Noctis to follow, choosing one of Ignis' shirts to sleep in. It felt out of place, but like everything else, it felt right to turn into Noctis' warmth after he turned out the light.

The next morning, his room felt like spring in its warmth, and Ignis knew that beyond the walls winter still ruled. He didn't want to get up, and of course, neither did Noctis, and so they laid there, too long to be well-prepared and on time for opening the cafe. "I want every morning to be like this." The words were mumbled against the fabric of his comforter while Ignis was trying to ignore the way his fingers skittered up and down his arm alluringly. Noctis was pretending that he didn't know what he was doing, but he knew.

"Like what?"

"Like this, us in this bed above the shop. Not wanting to leave the warmth and go down to work, yet working our way up to it, anyway."

"Is that the dream?"

"I mean, in the dream we own the shop, but yeah." Ignis chuckled, thinking that sounded like a nice little domestic dream, but then Noctis spoke again. "I don't want it to be a dream, Ignis."

He stopped chuckling. "What are you implying? Speak plainly, Noct."

"I want . . . " Noctis' fingers stopped their journey up and down his skin. "I want to buy the shop, and the building eventually. I want to live here, in this tiny little apartment, with you. I want to spend the rest of my days running a coffee shop with you by my side." He sighed. "I want this to be my happily ever after."

Ignis knew what that meant. That meant he didn't want to go back, ever, at all. He wanted to give up on returning to Faery entirely, and he wanted Ignis to give up on it too. It wasn't something that could last forever. Eventually someone else would find them, just as Ignis had eventually found Noctis. He looked down at Noctis' face half hidden against his chest, and Ignis knew he was lost to it already. Yes, storms would come for them. They would weather them together.

He pulled Noctis closer to him. "What would be the first step to make this dream a reality?"

"Me moving in."

They did that later that day. Step two was buying the shop. They had a proposal ready for Aranea by the end of the week. What perhaps surprised Ignis the most about that was the smile that spread across Aranea's face when she saw the folder in his hands. "It's about time," she said. "I've been waiting."

Years passed. Before, Ignis had found life to be a slow-moving thing. He had always been waiting for something to give. Now it had, and life seemed to jaunt on by at a speed that Ignis could barely keep up with. He liked it that way. He spent his days making muffins and brownies before sitting in an office, balancing numbers and making calls. He spent his nights in a small kitchen cooking for the one person who mattered most and hearing that person's laugh brighten the room. He slept with a body in his arms and a kiss lingering on his lips.

He could not imagine being happier, yet the knowledge that it would eventually end niggled in his brain always. Someone would come. Every time, all it took was one look at Noctis and Ignis knew. They had everything. They'd fight for it.

"Aren't you supposed to be a night creature?"

Ignis smiled at the words more grumbled than spoken and glanced back at where Noctis could just barely be seen from the bed he'd just gotten up from. Already he'd wrapped himself up in the whole of the blankets, and so Ignis really didn't know what he had to complain about. "We generally are, and that is what coffee is for."

It was an old argument now, one without any real bite. Noctis wanted him to sleep in and Ignis had to get down into the shop to start making the day's goods. They both knew how it would go. They both knew they'd have the same conversation, almost verbatim, next week. Ignis peeked beyond the curtains. "The sun's risen. Aren't you supposed to be a day creature?"

"Day doesn't start until noon."

Ignis chuckled. "I'll see you in a couple hours, love." He left him to his blanket burrito and got into the shower, which always helped him wake up a little bit. After that was getting dressed, making sure Noctis really was still breathing in there, and then making his way down to the cafe. After that would be opening a can of Ebony and downing about three of them before he really started to get out of autopilot. At least, that was how it normally went. Not today.

Today, he opened the front door, locked it behind him, and it was only his keen instincts that kept his head from being chopped clean off his neck by a rather large sword. He ducked, not fully processing the threat, only processing what he had to do to survive, and that involved vaulting himself over the counter, knocking over the espresso machine, and into the kitchen, then grabbing and swinging his stone rolling pin as hard as he could at his pursuer. It was only a lucky shot that had it land squarely in the temple, making his attacker simply collapse to the ground.

Seconds later, Noctis came running into the cafe. The commotion, Ignis thought idly between breaths. The commotion must have properly awoken him. "Specs!" He ran with his hands out in front of him, and, a little numbly, Ignis raised his hands too. Their fingers slid together, their matching rings catching for only a moment as they did. The clink of the metals colliding grounded him. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine." That was even mostly true. He looked down at the unconscious man on the floor. He was certainly in better shape than him. Be that as it may. "I think we've finally been found."

Noctis followed his gaze, and even in his peripheral he could see his nose crinkle up. "It's Gladio."

"Your champion?"

Noctis nodded. "And friend. He was a friend." Ignis glanced back up at him. His love was smirking. He was plotting something. "You need someone to talk to about books, right? You haven't been able to find anyone to rant about Pride and Prejudice to."

Ah, so that was his idea. Slowly, Ignis felt himself start to smirk too. Why, it had worked on him, why not a friend who had stood by his side for longer? "I could use the beginnings of a book club, certainly."

Noctis leaned into him, his sunshine, spring warmth took over the whole kitchen.

"Excellent."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from My Beta: In Which a Book Club is Formed
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING. <333333


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